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The deranged ex-con who used a fake bomb to make hostages of a frightened trio of Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign workers in New Hampshire promised no one would be hurt – but his words didn’t soothe anyone’s

fears.

Nor did his puzzling decision to let the hostages keep their cellphones.

Two people who spoke to a female hostage named Catherine during the fivehour ordeal described their friend as “hysterical” and frightened” that her life might end on the chilly floor of the storefront campaign office.

We’re all huddled together,” the hostage told Susan Nagy of Barrington, NH, by cellphone. “It was a very tense situation for her. She was very scared – you could tell by talking to her,” Nagy said.

The poor girl was hysterical,”

said Dan Nagy, Susan’s brother. “Every time I talked to her, [she said] he kept saying he wasn’t going to hurt them. But you never know.”

The Nagys declined to give Catherine’s last name, but said they believed that unlike many workers on presidential campaigns, she lives in New Hampshire.

Leeland Eisenberg walked into the Clinton campaign office in downtown Rochester at around 12:30 p.m. Friday and told everyone he was wearing a bomb.

What Eisenberg really had were some highway flares taped to his clothing – but it looked enough like an explosive device to frighten his hostages into submission.

He quickly let go a mother and her baby who were visiting the office. He ordered the rest of the group – two women and a man – to huddle on the floor in the back area of the office, the Nagys said.

“He demanded them all on the floor right when he

walked in,” said Dan Nagy, 45.

For the next few hours, all anyone outside the office knew about what was

going on came in a series of frenzied phone calls from those inside.

Dan Nagy said he checked up several times with Catherine by cellphone.

“I could hear him talking, but I don’t know what he was saying,” Nagy said.

“He wasn’t hysterical, and wasn’t going crazy. “

She said it was pretty calm, and they were all together in one room.”

Early on, the other female hostage, known only as Morgan, called CNN on Eisenberg’s behalf.

In calls to CNN staffers in Atlanta and Washington, Eisenberg complained he was having trouble getting help for his mental problems. Eisenberg began one call in a calm voice, but grew more agitated. “

I need to speak to Hillary Clinton,” he said. “Something’s got to change. Ordinary people need help.” When CNN refused to put him in touch with Clinton, Eisenberg hung up.

He repeated his story in a profanity-laced call a few hours later, the network reported. After a few minutes, that call was disconnected. “

One time, I asked to talk to the guy that was holding them hostage,” Dan Nagy recounted. “He didn’t want anything but to talk to Hillary Clinton.

That’s the only thing he wanted.”

The ordeal ended early for Catherine. Around 2:45 p.m., she escaped the office. TV reports identified her as a woman in a green sweater.